New property listings in Auckland surge in February

New property listings in Auckland surge in February

AUCKLAND, 1 March, 2011 –
Following record low months of new home listings nationally in December and January, the final days of summer have seen a surge in new home listings in the Auckland region.

Data released today in the NZ Property Report – a monthly report of housing market activity compiled by Realestate.co.nz – shows the number of new property listings in Auckland saw a 50% increase on the previous month with 3,891 new listings come onto the market. Auckland listings in February also represented a full third (34%) of all new listings nationally.

Alistair Helm, CEO of Realestate.co.nz, says that although this is a natural part of the market bounce-back for this time of year, it is clear that the property market is certainly more active in the main cities than provincial New Zealand. Mr Helm says overall vendor confidence is remaining resilient in challenging times, with the average asking price rising by $14,000 to $420,265 nationally. The Auckland region has also remained at the peak of asking price at just under $550,000.

“With asking prices still 2% below the peak of the market back in October 2007, it is still
largely a buyer’s market. However, if new listings continued to remain low nationally, this
would usually turn in vendors’ favour over time.” Mr Helm says that he has no doubts that the recent events in Christchurch will have an impact on the whole of the New Zealand property market next month, but that it is far too early to ascertain what that might be, based solely on the February figures.

“We know that the immediate need is to focus on those people in Christchurch who still need immediate assistance following the effect of the earthquake on their lives and homes. “We have close relationships with many real estate agents in the region, and our thoughts are certainly with all Cantabrians at this difficult time,” says Mr Helm.

Realestate.co.nz is the country’s most comprehensive property listing website with more than 120,000 real estate listings covering residential, commercial, business and farms for sale. The latest issue of the NZ Property Report, covering December, plus more analysis of the property market can be found on www.unconditional.co.nz, the news and information website for New Zealand real estate.

ENDS

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